Was Donald Trump stating his opinion of Israel when he said "Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel"? No, that's not true: Trump, speaking at a 2019 Minneapolis rally was quoting a social media post by Representative Ilhan Omar, a member of Congress from Minnesota. A video circulating on social media omits the context that he was quoting someone else, making it look like these were his own words.
The claim appeared in an October 7, 2023TikTok video (archived here) under the title "Free Palestine". It opened with a video of Trump saying:
Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok.com screenshot taken on Sat Oct 7 21:37:03 2023 UTC)
The TikTok video strips all context from Trump's words, leaving the impression that he is criticizing the Jewish state, when he was not.
The video clip was taken while he spoke at a rally (Trump press release archived here) at the Target Center in Minneapolis on October 10, 2019. Video from the event shows him speaking about Representative Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota, and criticizing her for saying Israel has hypnotized the world.
Local news station KARE11 reported on Trump's comments about Omar. Video from the event posted on the KARE 11 YouTube channel (archived here) opens with Trump condemning Omar's political views, saying, "Congresswoman Omar is an America-hating socialist."
At 1:03 in the video he says:
Representative Omar has a history of launching virulent anti-Semitic screeds, whether you like it or not. She said the US support for Israel is all about the Benjamins. She said that pro-Israel lawmakers have an allegiance to a foreign country. Omar wrote that, "Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel and the United States."
Omar did post that message on her X account, formerly known as Twitter, in 2012, as news outlets reported. She addressed the message in 2019 on her account:
Hi @bariweiss,
-- Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) January 22, 2019
You are correct when you say,
"Perhaps Ms. Omar is sincerely befuddled and not simply deflecting"
In all sincerity, it was after my CNN interview that I heard from Jewish orgs. that my use of the word "Hypnotize" and the ugly sentiment it holds was offensive. pic.twitter.com/IxPScaSzGw
